


they know me on the internet

by frozensight



Series: a whole new world (literally) [9]
Category: Nova (Comics), Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 17:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5425922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozensight/pseuds/frozensight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has a 'secret' superhero news vlog that he's kept from Sam for Reasons (embarrassing, crush-revealing ones), and this is how Sam slowly finds out about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	they know me on the internet

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: "my best friend has a popular youtube channel and drags me into their videos and people comment on how we seem like a couple isn’t that awkward" au
> 
> notes: Peter is still Spider-Man in this, but the others are not necessarily powered (yet).

The first time Sam has an inkling that something weird is going on, is when Carrie shows up at his house at the beginning of summer break and asks him about how his paper for British Literature turned out.

"When did I tell you about _that_ damn thing?" he asks her as they settle down on his bed with his laptop, a bowl of popcorn, and Netflix. The paper he'd had to write on Milton still haunted his dreams, even though he'd made a solid B on it. He also had ranted about it to very few people as very few people would listen to him rant about it as it had been his own fault he'd waited until two days before to write the ten page paper worth 20% of his overall grade.

Carrie pauses, examining his face instead of the screen. She's thoughtful for a moment before she replies, words escaping between chewed popcorn, "Your mom mentioned it the last time I babysat Kaelynn for her."

He narrows his eyes, the excuse seeming thin, but also plausible enough that he doesn't question it. "Okay, well, it went fine, I guess. I nearly died not sleeping for three days, but in the end I guess a B was worth it."

She laughs and presses play on the first movie they had queued up. "You're an odd one, Alexander."

"Hush up, Winston, and pay attention to the movie."

Popcorn is thrown, and Sam just _knows_  he's going to roll over later and have it poke him in the face when he's asleep, but he lets it slide. It's been months since he's seen Carrie, and he's missed her while in New York, studying. Sure he's made great new friends, but they'll never be able to replace his best friend.

 

The next time he feels like maybe something happened while he hadn't been paying attention is halfway through summer break when he gets a sudden influx of twitter followers after having a brief conversation with his suitemate Peter about baseball. After that he gets random replies from people he doesn't know, with strange handles and sometimes even stranger icons. He texts Peter about it once, but the only response he gets is to ignore it. Sam supposes Peter deals with it a lot--he has nearly five thousand followers, which is practically seven times more than what Sam has--so Peter knows more about the finer social points of twitter than he does.

And he's fine with ignoring them, really, it's not like he checks twitter all that often--usually only when Peter or Luke mentions him in something--so it's easy to forget he even _has_  followers besides a few friends and a dozen spambots when he tweets things like 'kae told me she finished off the milk AFTER i poured my cereal fml' or 'morning jog successful!' with a sweaty selfie of himself attached.

But then he realizes he's getting messages like 'omg ur so hot' a lot more regularly and more serious than he's used to receiving. Initially he decides that it's just a weird internet phase that he's going through or something, but when he brings it up around Carrie, she narrows her eyes and pulls out her own phone to investigate.

"This one reads, 'both @ironparker and @carefreesux are hot and it's extremely unfair'." Carrie grins as she continues scrolling through twitter. "Holy shit you weren't kidding these kids are intense. Did you see this one who sent you and Peter a drawing of the two of you?"

"A drawing?" Sam narrows his eyes as he locates the tweet Carrie's talking about. Seconds after clicking the link, he kind of regrets going the way of the cat, and wants to wash his eyes with acid or something. "Oh my God, that's--that's us--and we're--"

"Kissing." Carrie turns her phone, like she needs to get a better view of the picture. Sam resists the urge to smack it out of her hands because he doesn't want to risk her wrath. "Quite emphatically it would seem."

"But we're not--"

"Platonic as platonic gets. Wouldn't be surprised if the two of you declared no homo after telling the other you loved them."

He huffs. "Okay, we have definitely _not_  done that." Sam remembers the day they said goodbye for the summer, with Peter 'not crying' and Sam having 'belated spring sinus problems' and, well, maybe they've alluded to how much they cared about each other, but they have certainly not said That word. With a shake of his head, he adds, "Anyway, that's not the point! This is totally weird, right? That people are, for some unholy reason, stalking me and Peter and drawing these pictures of us."

Carrie ignores him, and instead declares, "Oh look, I found fic."

She bursts out laughing after a few more seconds, and Sam is almost too afraid to ask, "What?" Breathlessly laughing, she just hands him her phone, which is displaying a photoset on tumblr of various selfies of him and Peter, some of them ones they'd taken together back at school, with _song lyrics_  as the caption. "This is a love song!"

"Yup."

"Peter and I aren't dating!"

"Tell that to the internet, Alexander; they seem to have some compelling proof."

"I'm calling Peter," grumbles Sam as he exits the twitter app on his phone and pulls up his recent text messages.

(He's so intent on this that he doesn't notice that Carrie is giving him a look that she usually saves for when he's being particularly stupid.)

 

Peter apologizes, tells him to just ignore them, that people are into weird shit on the internet, but it doesn't _mean_ anything.

"Will it ever stop?"

He laughs. It sounds bitter, and Sam briefly wonders why that is. "Probably not, no, but you sorta get used to it. Well, sorta."

Sam sighs, scrolling through twitter on his laptop while he talks to Peter. "What the hell have you gotten me into, Parker?"

"They're nice people, mostly, just...eccentric."

"Eccentric people, who are dedicated to making things centered around the idea of us _dating_."

"I know," repeats Peter, and Sam's not positive but he almost seems wistful. Sam can't think of why that would be, so he ignores it like he's always ignored the way Peter's smile makes him do anything when it's directed at him (though he always puts on an air of reluctance).

"So there's absolutely _nothing_  I can do? Can't I like, unfriend people or something?"

That makes Peter snort. "That's facebook, idiot."

" _Whatever_ , just tell me what to do." Peter walks him through privatizing his twitter and then blocking everyone who has sent him things that make him uncomfortable. When it's all complete, Sam lets out a breath, and Peter apologizes once again. "Don't worry, dude; now, tell me what you've been up to _really._ I know you haven't been wasting your summer taking photos of that spider-dweeb again."

"Well, that's not _all_  I've been doing." He can hear the smile in Peter's voice, and it makes him smile in return.

The conversation lasts for another half an hour before Peter's aunt calls him down for dinner. "It's only 4pm."

"Time zones, Sam. It's 6pm here. I'll talk to you later."

He hangs up, and briefly Sam wonders if maybe there's something Peter isn't telling him.

 

The third time, as the invisible omniscient 'they' say, is the charm. This time, Sam and Peter are walking down the street in Manhatten, heading back to their dorm from Peter's aunt's house after Sunday dinner like they did every week during the semester. All their friends had a standing invitation, but sometimes they had other plans. As Peter's roommate and the only non-NYC native, Sam always went because he quite literally had nothing else to do besides homework (hah). Not to mention, Aunt May's cooking rivaled his mom's, and Sam lives by the credence of the lowly college student: never turn away a free meal, especially a _good_  free meal.

They're a couple blocks away the subway stop they'd gotten off, when a girl steps up to them, a giant grin on her face despite her shaking hands. Excitedly, she asks, "You're Peter Parker, right?"

"Uh, yes?" Peter responds nervously, a tense smile on his face. He glances towards Sam, like he wants to gauge his reaction.

"Oh my god. My name is Emily; can I take a picture with you?"

"Damn, Pete," Sam comments as Peter poses with the girl--Emily--for a selfie, "are you that good of a photographer that people know your face? I didn't think _The Daily Bugle_ showed headshots of anyone but Jameson."

Peter laughs. "They don't, Sam, not in the print anyway, but my picture is on the _Bugle_ website."

Emily giggles, "Not to mention like all over youtube." She's eying Sam now, and it makes him shift his footing.

Sam furrows his eyebrows, forcing himself to look away from Emily and focus on Peter. "Why the hell would you be all over youtube? Did you embarrass yourself in Times Square and not tell me?" Peter freezes, suddenly on edge, and Emily gapes at Sam, as if he'd just said the stupidest thing she's ever heard. Looking between them, Sam asks, "Am I missing something?"

"Wait, he really doesn't know?" whispers Emily, her eyes wide. Peter rubs his face with his hands and shakes his head. She gives him a sad little smile, and Sam is surprised when she doesn't reach out and pat Peter on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Peter. I-I'll go now. Thank you for the photo!"

"No problem," he mumbles in reply as she trots off, but he and Sam remain where they were stopped. Sam pointedly staring at Peter, while the latter steadfastly avoids Sam's eyes. "Yes, Sam?"

" _What_  exactly do I not know about you that apparently strangers off the street do?"

"It's not a big deal, Sam, really."

"Dude, a random girl just asked for you to take a photo with her--that doesn't happen to college aged newspaper photographers."

Peter sighs. "Fine, okay, I'll explain, but can it wait until we're back at the dorm?"

"I suppose revealing big secrets in the middle of a Manhattan sidewalk is a little too romcom, but you better not bullshit me, Parker."

They continue walking, but they don't talk. Peter's hands are shoved into his pockets, his eyes ahead, clearly thinking over what he's going to say when they get to the dorm. Meanwhile, Sam's wondering what the _fuck_  Peter could possibly have been hiding from him that required not only privacy, but this much forethought.

 

Luke and Danny are still out at their game when Sam and Peter get back to their joint living room, but regardless, Peter leads the way into their shared bedroom, probably in case they came back before they're done talking. Sam shuts the door behind him and then faces Peter, who stands on his side of the room, fiddling with his computer and determinedly not meeting Sam's eyes.

"Spill, Parker."

With a reluctant sigh, Peter runs a hand through his hair, his other hand still tapping on his computer. "So let's say, hypothetically--"

Sam rolls his eyes. "Oh yes, _hypothetically_."

"Shut up." Peter straightens, hands gripped behind his neck, as if he needs his arms up to shield him from something. "So, _hypothetically_ , let's say that I had a youtube channel, where I talked about superheroes, and that by some strange circumstances, it goes popular, especially once I started getting noticed for my photos of Spider-Man."

Confused, Sam shrugs. "Okay, so you're one of those youtube blogging people--"

"Vlogging."

" _Whatever_. That's not like, a strange thing these days--why didn't you just tell me?"

Peter laughs, and Sam's a bit startled by how self-deprecating it sounds. "Yeah, well, part two to this hypothetical, is that what if after a while, in these videos, I split my time talking about superheroes with my main channel, and my personal problems in a second one."

"Again," starts Sam, eyebrows furrowing, "Why should this bother me? I know all your secrets and shit, right?" The shamed look he gets makes Sam's stomach tighten. "Peter?"

"Somehow it's easier to talk to a faceless void about some things," Peter mumbles, not meeting Sam's eyes. "Lots of it has been stuff I've eventually told you, but there are a couple I've neglected to mention yet."

"A _couple_?" Sam exclaims, "As in more than one?!"

"If it makes you feel better, I've felt like shit every day I haven't brought myself to tell you."

"Not really, Pete! It just makes me want to know why the hell you _haven't_."

There's a pause, silence falling over them before Peter raises his eyes slowly to meet Sam's, and whispers, "Because I'm _scared_ , dude."

"Scared of what?"

"Your reaction, mostly," he says, rubbing his arm with one hand--fidgeting like he'd like to be looking anywhere but at Sam. "Gwen's told me to get over myself, but--"

Sam snorts, crossing his arms over his chest. "If Gwen says it, it's probably true, you know."

That makes Peter laugh, and Sam wishes the sound didn't make him smile on reflex. "Probably, but that doesn't make it any easier to tell you."

"Well we're talking about it now, so you might as well get it over with."

Peter's eyes drop from his-- _again_ \--before he takes a deep breath and says, "I'm Spider-Man."

"Dude, now is not the time to fuck with me," huffs Sam, rolling his eyes as his frustration bubbles to a boil.

"I'm not, I promise," replies Peter, a small, sad smile on his face as he tries to meet Sam's eyes, but managing to stare over his shoulder instead.

Face growing tight, Sam challenges, "Prove it."

A sly grin replaces the sad smile, making Sam wonder if maybe he should've said it differently, but he doesn't have a chance to add anything because Peter raises a hand at him and shoots what definitely looks like _webbing_  at Sam. Staring down at his chest, sure enough there's a little web sticking to his shirt, still attached to Peter's wrist via a small string. Grin widening, Peter tugs on the string with his other hand, and startles Sam into walking closer until they're standing toe to toe.

"That proof enough?"

Sam flashes back to all the various footage he's seen of the Spider-Man over the past year. He wants to be angry that Peter's kept this from him because this is _huge_ , but at the same time, he thinks about all the bad guys Peter has fought. Peter's fear makes more sense when Sam realizes he's been protecting him from possible damsel in distress syndrome.

"Holy shit you're actually Spider-Man." He can't help grinning himself as he locks eyes with Peter, who's looking a lot happier than he had when they'd walked into the room. "Okay, so now that I know you're actually that web-slinging hero you've been nabbing great pictures of--totally knew you were always a narcissist by the way--what's the other thing?"

Peter's eyes get a little guarded, but at least he doesn't avert his gaze this time. "What other thing?"

"Don't play dumb _now_ , Webhead; the other secret you have been keeping from me that apparently youtube does." Sam pauses. "Wait, did you tell _youtube_  that you were Spider-Man?"

He laughs. "No, I just referenced that I was keeping a hobby from you. Only you and Gwen know that I'm Spider-Man."

"Any club with Gwen is bound to be a good one." Sam pokes the webbing on his chest, making a face when it's as sticky as he thought it would be, and then he shoves Peter's shoulder gently. "So what's so secretive that I can't know about it, but youtube and Gwen can?"

His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. Sam raises an eyebrow at him, unsure why exactly this secret seems to be tripping Peter up more than the whole 'oh by the way I'm a superhero' one. Rubbing a hand over his face--the one that has the web string attached to a little mechanical device that sticks just out of his sleeves--Peter inhales deeply before, in a rush of words, he admits, "Ihaveacrushonyou."

Sam's brain slams to a halt, and all he can do is blink. "Come again?"

Peter's face turns red, but his eyes are still on him, the focus of them making Sam's chest tighten. Slowly, he says, "I have a crush on you."

"A crush."

"Yes."

"On me?"

"Yes, you."

"Why?"

" _Why_?" repeats Peter, his cheeks red, but his expression is as confused as Sam's is blank. "I...I don't know, um, because I enjoy hanging out with you? Because I think you're funny and cool and just being your friend was enough for a while and then it got to where I couldn't stop thinking about wanting to kiss you, and somehow talking about my crush to the internet was easier than admitting it to you and then I couldn't stop and then people found your _twitter_  and things got _weird_  and--"

"Peter?" The tension in Peter's everything is obvious, and it takes all Sam has not to smirk at him.

"Yeah?"

Taking the couple steps left to get fully into Peter's space, Sam takes the hand without the web string in his and says, "Shut up and kiss me."

For the first time ever, Sam finds himself wishing he had a camera so he could've snapped a shot of Peter's thought processes coming to a screeching, burning stop at his words. "Kiss you?"

"Did I stutter, Webhead?"

Peter's grin slowly returns, enveloping his entire face. "So you--?"

"Obviously." His own cheeks feel a little heated now, and he wonders what Carrie will say when he tells her that he finally did something about his crush that he kept telling her he didn't have on his roommate and friend. Peter doesn't say anything further, instead he gives a short tug on the string, pulling Sam the last inch or so towards him, and kisses him.

"You're really not mad about the Spider-Man thing, are you?"

"Give it time, I'm sure I will be." Sam hums as Peter kisses him again. "Besides, I'm more annoyed that you were youtube famous and didn't tell me more than anything."

Peter chuckles, resting his forehead against Sam's as he mumbles, "I was going to tell you, but then I realized from my main channel you could find my personal vlogging one, and then you'd find out how I felt."

"Clearly that would've ended in tragedy."

"Shut up."

"Make me."

Grabbing Sam's waist with one hand, the web string long forgotten, Peter kisses Sam again. They are well on their way to falling back onto Peter's bed for a well-earned make-out session when their bedroom door gets pushed open forcefully, slamming against the wall.

"Yo, Alexander, Parker--Danny and I have--oh sweet Christmas." Practically jumping apart, Sam and Peter both look sheepishly in the direction of their suitemates--Luke and Danny, who're standing in their doorway with expressions of regret and resignation.

"Guys, it's not what you--"

"If it's not what we're thinking, Peter," says Danny, eyebrow raising as he grins, "Then you would be saving Luke $20."

"Damn straight you would," grumbles Luke, reaching around behind him and pulling out his wallet. "Unfortunately for me, you're a terrible liar." He gestures between Sam and Peter with the twenty dollar bill he's pulled out of his wallet before he hands it to Danny. "Besides, we all knew it was a matter of time until both of you got your heads outta your asses."

Neither Peter or Sam know what to say, but eventually Sam croaks, "Thank you?"

"No thanks required, Sam," replies Danny, ambiguous smile on his face as he folds his newly acquired bill carefully and tucks it into his pocket. "We'll leave you alone now."

Sam wants to ask about why they'd barged into their room in the first place, but Luke's already winking at them and shutting the door before his brain even remembers how to form actual sentences. He turns to Peter after the door clicks shut. "So that was...odd."

Peter snorts. "Yeah. Guess I'm not surprised they had a bet, though. Pretty sure Ava and Gwen are in on it too."

"Assholes--every last one of them."

"We'll get them back later," murmurs Peter, pulling Sam towards his bed once more, "But for now, I think we should be making up for lost time."

Kissing Peter's lips briefly, Sam says, "I've never agreed with you more, but hold that thought." He darts over to the door, locking it, and then pushes Peter back onto the bed, climbing on top of him. " _Now_ , we won't be interrupted again."

When they kiss this time, Sam can't help but feel like everything suddenly feels right. He's also going to have to punch Carrie in the shoulder when he sees her next for not telling him about the youtube channel because suddenly all her suspect knowledge makes sense. For the moment, though, he's content to postpone plans of friendly revenge, and focus on how Peter's lips feel on his.


End file.
